In this issue:

• View 3D - Moving Camera in 3D Wireframe Drawing by Tom Nally
• Math for LB - by Bill Jennings
• Using the Modem - by George Johnson
• Function Fundamentals - by Alyce Watson
• Subroutines and Gosubs - by Alyce Watson
• LB Hall of Fame!
• API Corner - Numbers-Only Textbox
• Tip Corner - Using the RUN Command
• Demos
  • Clipart Viewer - by Gordon Sweet
  • User Design Graphics - by Gordon Sweet
  • Sort by Surnames - by Gordon Sweet
  • Many Textboxes - by Bill Jennings
• Newsletter help
• Index

Notes from the Editor:

This issue's quote is from Henry Ford. Anyone growing up in the Detroit area, as I did, couldn't help being influenced by this great and eccentric man. For those who don't know him, Henry Ford invented the assembly line, which allowed automobiles to be mass-produced, thus lowering the cost and making them within reach of the average American. I was priveleged to visit the [River Rouge] complex, where I saw iron being made into red-hot ingots of steel at one end of the plant, and completed automobiles rolling off the line at the other end. One of the most memorable areas was the assembly line itself. It was like a graceful dance of sorts. On either side of the moving assembly line, there stretched airborn lines of auto body parts... doors like wings, swooping gracefully down to meet the cars. The cars came in many colors and each set of doors as it was used in turn, magically matched the color of the car it met! Was it magic? Of course not. It was all planned. Read Henry's quote again!

I selected this quote also in honor of Tom Nally, who has shared another of his remarkable simulation techniques this issue. This one demonstrates 3D wire frame drawings with a moving camera view. How does Tom do all of these amazing simulations? In addition to being very, very intelligent, he is also a very good planner. Tom often writes to me to tell me about his ideas. Before he ever types a line of code, he has planned what his program will do, and how it will do it. He considers all of the methods that will be used and he clearly defines his goals. You've seen the results, and they are astounding. Well done, Tom!

We see a lot of questions about modem communications, but not many answers... until now. George Johnson has provided a beginner's guide to accessing the modem in Liberty BASIC. It is so clear that even I understand it! He has also shared a program called Modem Commander to show us the routines in action. Thanks for giving us this terrific article, George!

This month's issue also contains an article on the use of functions... both Liberty BASIC functions and user-defined functions. A companion article details the use of subroutines, including GOSUB/RETURN routines and user-defined subs.

We begin a new feature this month. We will occassionally spotlight outstanding members of the online community in the Hall of Fame. Be sure to read the article and see if you agree that these folks have made programming with Liberty BASIC so much easier and better for all of us!

The API Corner in this issue demonstrates a Liberty BASIC textbox that is modified so that it accepts only numeric input. The Tip Corner fully explains the use of the Liberty BASIC RUN command, including information on running Liberty BASIC itself from the command line.

In this issue, Gordon Sweet shares a Clipart Viewer with musical accompaniment. This is a clever use of Liberty BASIC, and Gordon explains the program's construction in detail. Gordon also shares a unique program that allows us to create graphics by plotting them and saving them to disk. We often see questions about sorting methods and Gordon is sharing a handy demo this month that allows sorting a list by surnames. Wow, Gordon, thanks for all the great informatin! Gordon is an active participant in the Liberty BASIC Yahoo group and he shares many of his clever ideas there. He is always quick to answer questions and involve others in projects. Thanks, Gordon!

Bill Jennings is part of our team. His usual contribution is the updated index and contents list each month. Those files make the newsletter so accessible! They are absolutely invaluable! Thanks, Bill! This month, Bill has contributed an article and another of his clever demos. The article explains how to position entities using math equations rather than hard-coded values. The demo uses the methods outlined in the artilce and it addresses a problem that many people run into. Depending upon the version of Windows and the capabilities of the individual computer, there is a limit to the number of textboxes that can be contained on a single window. This makes data entry and display difficult for some types of programs. Bill has given us a very clever, and VERY good-looking alternative. He mimics the look of textboxes by using a graphicbox for display. When a textbox look-alike is clicked, a real textbox takes the place of the graphic textbox look-alike, so editing is possible. You've got to try this one to see how clever it is!